Suspicious package in Germany puts U.S. on alert

December 7, 2011 / 5:51 PM
/ CBS News

An NYPD police official told CBS News that police have stepped up security around Deutsche Bank offices in New York out of an abundance of caution after an explosive device was detected earlier today in a package the mailroom of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. The package was addressed to Josef Ackerman, Deutsche's CEO, and it carried a return address of the European Central Bank. The bomb did not detonate.

CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports that the police official says there is no information as to who sent it, and there is no indication that it was sent from or destined for the U.S.

As part of of its Shield Program, the NYPD has sent a security advisory regarding the Deutsche package to its 10,000 private sector security partners.

There is no known threat to NYC.

German police are investigating the suspicious envelope, but unlike their American counterparts have thus far declined to say whether or not there were explosives inside.

Reuters reports that a police spokesman in Frankfurt declined to say what was in the envelope but said a bomb disposal expert had been sent to the headquarters of Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank.

Frankfurt police spokesman Alexander Kiessling told Reuters: "There was a piece of mail that arrived at Deutsche Bank that was noticed. It was noticed because it seemed unusual."

Ackermann is the face of capitalism in Germany and is one of the few senior managers in the country who is always surrounded by bodyguards, Reuters reports.